It’s National Engineers Week – a week of recognition to celebrate the power of engineering and the people who make it possible!
Meet Justin Cheung, a Project Lead at NUWC Division, Keyport, has had a lifelong interest and passion for technology. He was captivated with Naval aviation, Navy ships, air combat and military technology after watching the film Top Gun when he was around 6 years old. Fast forward to today, he now works directly with the warfighters, the Sailors, who are doing the real work on the deck plates.
Born in Fair Oaks, California, Justin earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from California State University, Sacramento in 2007. He started his federal service career at NSWC Port Hueneme Division in California as a canister and launcher engineer-in-training on the MK 41 Vertical Launch System and in 2009, moved into the VLS Automated Test Equipment design engineer position, where he worked until moving to the Pacific Northwest in 2017. He worked at NUWC Division, Keyport as a contractor before transitioning back to a federal employee in 2018 as an engineer, where today he manages funding and the day-to-day operations of the engineering and acoustic specialist efforts of the team.
“One of my main jobs is to field fleet or alternative customer support requests,” he said. “I also support any requests from my primary customer or stakeholder, Integrated Warfare Systems Engineering within Naval Sea Systems Command.”
Justin’s philosophy on learning and pursuing one’s career is to be open to a “safe to fail” environment. If you’re thinking of a career in engineering he says, “just do it.”
“It’s not the easiest of majors, but it can lead to a fulfilling career of constant learning and growth,” he said. “You will make mistakes, you will learn from them, and you will design something better.”
His greatest learning and growth moments have come from times when he failed or had to ask for help. “You don’t know everything,” is on one of the lessons he learned in his career. “Don’t be afraid to make a mistake or ask for help.”